Process for making models in plaster, &amp;c.



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ANGELICA SCI-IUYLER CHURCH, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

PROCESS FOR MAKING MODELS IN PLASTER, 8w.

No Drawing.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ANGELIOA SCHUYLER CHURCH, a citizen of the United States, residing at New York, county and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Processes for Making Models in Plaster, &c., of which the following is a clear, full, and exact description.

This invention relates to an improved process for forming ornamental and structural bodies of plaster, cement, stucco and other similar compounds of lime, and has for its object the attainment of a cheaper and better product by a method more effi cient, simple and economical than any heretofore used.

The present process is particularly adapted for use in the plastic arts, such as in sculpture, ornamental cornices, decorative commercial work and surgical plaster jackets.

.As is well-known, the usual method of con structing a work of sculpture is first to form a model of clay or plastilina with the fingers and other simple modeling tools, then to construct a mold about said model, and after removing the model from within the mold, to make a casting from the mold thus formed. The first casting is usually made of plaster which, if desired, may be used as a further model for metal castings or for the cutting of the work in stone by the stonecutters atelier- This method of making works of sculpture has been practised for hundreds and thousands of years and has practically remained unchanged since the time of Phidias. In this old process, the fragile and impermanent character of the original clay model is such as to require its transfer into a plaster model as soon as possible, and even with the utmost care in handling during the various stages of this old process, many valuable works of art have been entirely destroyed. Even after the plaster cast has been made, it is liable to be chipped and broken in parts, and inasmuch as under the old method repairs or patches of any magnitude are quite impossible, it is necessary to remodel and recast the work or a greater part of it. If a serious accident happens, for instance to the head of a statue, it is necessary to entirely remodel the whole head in clay or plastilina and go through the same series of stages in making a casting from it as at first. The most serious mat- Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 30, 1918.

Application filed June 26, 1915. Serial No. 36,449.

ter is that the original work on that part by the artist is entirely lost.

Furthermore, the artist usually has neither the time nor the craftsmans skill for transferring the original clay model, after it is made, to the plaster cast, and this is usually left to workmen skilled in this trade. The artist, therefore, has no control over his work of art after being modeled in clay, and must stand the risk of having his model ruined 1n the process of being cast into plaster through carelessness, accident and mishandling bv the workmen.

In the present improved process, all of these objectionable features of the old method are, eliminated, and the artist not only has the most complete control over his mode of expression as revealed in the plaster cast, but in fact the artist himself builds up the plaster cast by a method which allows the use of a medium of far greater flexibility in shaping the surface than the usual modeling tool or even the finger. The making of the original model in clay and subsequent manufacture'of a mold and casting therein is entirely avoided in the present process.

In carrying out my process, if a piece of sculpture is to be made such as a statue, a suitable foundation with a supporting core or armature is first constructed. The design of this core or armature depends of course upon the shape and type of figure to be made and need not be more particularly described more than to mention that the foundation for the reception of the plaster to be applied thereto, should be of a sufliciently rough sur face to retain said laster thereon. The rough surface of woo metal, or stone will serve, but one of the most suitable as well as the cheapest foundations, is an ordinary wire mesh or screening. The size of the mesh will vary according to the size of the work; in some cases being as small as the ordinary fly-screen mesh and running up to as large as a mesh of one-half inch. It is preferable not to make use of a mesh larger than one-half inch as the soft plaster is apt to fall through instead of adhering thereto. All metal parts of the core and foundation should preferably be either galvanized or shellacked to prevent rusting. The wire mesh foundation should follow in general the outline of the figure to be made, but of way than the finished work. The method of covering the foundation with the plaster and forming the complete body will now be described.

For convenience I shall describe the working of a body from ordinary plaster of Parls, but various other compounds of lime, such as cement and stucco, may be similarly handled. The plaster is obtained in the form of a dry unslaked powder and a tool, preferably a flat bristle brush providing a capillaceous surface, is first dipped in water to saturate the bristles thereof and then laid flat on a mass of this loose dry plaster. It will be found that the loose dry plaster in the vicinity of said wet brush will absorb moisture from the brush, and a portion of the mass will adhere thereto in a highly plastic state. when the brush is withdrawn from the powder. This plastic portion of material is then immediately applied by the brush to the wire mesh foundation to which in turn it adheres, the soft plaster sticking through and embracing the wires of the mesh. The plastic portion thus applied to the foundation may be easily worked with the brush into any shape desired and its plasticity is retained for about thirty seconds after its application. Then, by exposure to the air, it sets and in about half an hour has acquired the density and hardness of a very hard plaster cast. After several hours of hardening and setting, such a plaster model has the consistency of soft marble and is much more infrangible and tough than the ordinary plaster cast. The course of the hardening and setting process can be controlled to a certain extent by applying a brush full of water to the fresh deposit made on the foundation. It then remains in a plastic and workable condition for about a minute or sufficient time to give all necessary opportunity for manipulation. This operation may be repeated as often as desired, but before superposing a succeeding application of plaster by the brush it is preferable to allow the previous application to partially set or take its form and at least thirty seconds should be allowed for this. Furthermore, after each application the brush should be thoroughly rinsed in clean water to remove the residue of a previous application before applying said brush to the fresh dry powder for a, new application. The cleaner the water and the more thoroughly the brush is rinsed after each application of plaster to the model, the better will be the result of the succeeding application. The reason for this is that the particles re maining in the wet brush after an application lose some of their setting and binding qualities and when allowed to mix with a new portion of freshly dampened powder impair the efiicient setti g of the later application.

It will be seen that the present method is essentially a process of building up little by little the body of plaster, in this respect closely following the procedure of modeling in clay or plastilina with the exception that instead of applying masses with the fingers and using a wooden or wire modeling tool for finishing, a brush is used to build up the model and a knife or steel tool for clean cut detail work. A further control of the material arises from the fact that each deposit of plaster is in exact proportion tothe size of the brush employed so that large and coarse or fine and delicate operations can be conducted at will. For the first application against a one-half inch wire mesh, I preferably employ a fiat brush of one inch in width of stiff rather short bristles. This facilitates the working of the plaster in between and around the wires of the mesh. As soon as the wire mesh foundation is covered, larger masses of plaster may be applied with a wider brush. In fact it will be found advantageous in all cases to vary the size of the brush according to the work being done.

A flat brush is preferable as it will pick up a larger amount of plaster powder without moistening it too much, and the thin edge can be used to mold the plaster into shape. Moreover, the soft plaster may be tooled with the thin edge of the brush before it sets, just as if it were clay. Brushes with rather short bristles are'preferable to work with, since owing to their greater resiliency and stiffness, the plaster does not tend to clog them as it would in the case of camels hair or sable brushes. In the hands of an artist the brush has a two-fold function. It serves as it also serves as a device for controlling form,

much as the painters brush does in applying pigment to a canvas.

It will be easily understood that inasmuch as an almost invisible particle of plaster can be applied to an existing detail such as the petal of a flower or the edge of a piece of drapery with as much ease as if painting in oil, the degree of self expression realizable is considerably higher than is possible with a comparatively stubborn substance like clay or plastilina. The most delicate details meet with no hindrance to their execution arising out of the intractability of the material. Moreover, owing to the very greatdifi'erence in strength between a clay or plastilina projection and one formed as above described by the brush, the effects are possible that would be very difficult or impracticable to obtain in clay or plas'tilina because of the certainty of damage in the casting op-' modification of the design, far beyond that of any other material. Owing to the hardness of the plaster when set after being applied according to this process, it can be reduced by scraping without the slightest danger of flaking or chipping. A detail can thus be scraped away and rebuilt with as much ease as a painter alters the color or drawing of an object that he has just painted in. There is a striking similarity in thus handling freshly dampened plaster 011 a brush for modeling, to the handling of oil pigment in painting.

In the older methods of model-making, alterations, additions and repairs are more or less fraught with danger to the cast. This kind of danger is very much minimized in the case of a model made by the present method. Mending any break or repairing any badly chipped surface is a comparatively simple matter even though the parts have been lost, because fresh plaster can be added by the brush to an existing model, and the joint will be as strong and the new surface as homogeneous as any other part of the work. A sculptor may, for instance,

' graft a segment of one model onto another,

and with his brush, so apply the freshly dampened plaster at the joint that when hardened and set, it will be practically indistinguishable. Y

The wide uses and various applications of this process in the various fields of decora-v tive art and in surgery in the making of plaster jackets as well as constructional work, are obvious, and it has been deemed suflicient to describe it in detail only in connection with the more specialized field of sculpture. However, I do not wish my claims to be limited to the particular application of my process as here described, or to the exact proportions and materials stated, but to be given a construction commensurate with the invention and its advancement over the prior art.

What I claim as new is 1. The process of forming ornamental and structural bodies of plaster, cement,

stucco and other similar compounds of lime,

which consists in bringing a moisture impregnated carrier into contact with a mass of powdered, unslaked lime compound, then applying the portion of the lime compound adhering to said carrier, while in a plastic state, to the body being formed.

2. The process of forming ornamental and structural bodies of plaster, cement, stucco and other similar compounds of lime which consists, in bringing a surface wet with water into contact with a mass of dry, powdered and unslaked compound of lime, then immediately applying the portion of the lime compound thus adhering to said surface, while in a plastic state, to the body being formed.

3. The process of forming ornamental and structural bodies of plaster, cement, stucco and other similar compounds of lime which consists, in bringing a capillaceous surface saturated with water into contact with a mass of dry, powdered and unslaked compound of lime, then immediately applying the portion of the lime compound thus adhering to said surface while in a plastic state, to the body being formed.

4. The process of forming ornamental and structural bodies of plaster, cement, stucco and other similar compounds of lime which consists, in bringing a capillaceous surface saturated with water into contact with a mass of dry, powered and unslaked compound of lime, then immediately applying the portion of the lime compound thus adhering to said surface while in a plastic state, to a foundation of sufiiciently rough form to retain said plastic compound thereon.

5. The process of forming ornamental and structural bodies of plaster, cement, stucco and other similar compounds of lime which consists, in bringing a capillaceous surface saturated with water into contact with a mass of dry, powdered and unslaked com-' pound of lime, then immediately applying the portion of the lime compound thus adhering to said surface while in a plastic state, to a foundation of reticulated form to retain said plastic compound thereon.

6. The process of forming ornamental and structural bodies of plaster, cement, stucco and other similar compounds of lime which consists, in bringing a capillaceous surface saturated with water into contact with a mass of dry, powdered and unslaked compound of lime,-then immediately applying the portion of the lime compound thus adhering to said surface, while in a plastic .state, to the body being formed, repeating said operation as often as desired to build up the requisite form of said body and allowing the portion of each application at least thirty seconds to partially set before superposing thereon a new portion of the plastic compound.

7 The process of forming ornamental and structural bodies of plaster, cement, stucco and other similar compounds of lime which consists, in bringing a capillaceous surface saturated with water into contact with a mass of dry, powdered. and unslaked compound of lime, then immediately applying the portion of the lime compound thus adhering to said surface, while in a plastic state, to the body being formed, repeating said operation as often as desired to build up the requisite form of said body, allowing the portion of each application at least thirty seconds to partially set before superposing thereon a new portion of the plastic compound and rinsing said capillaceous surface in water after each application .to said body to free it from the residue of said previous application before again bringing it into contact with said dry powder for a succeeding application.

8. The process of forming ornamental and structural bodies of plaster, cement, stucco and other similar compounds of lime which consists, in bringing a capillaceous surface saturated with water into contact with a mass of dry, powdered and unslaked comstate, to the body being formed, repeating said operation as often as desired to build up the requisite form of said body, and rinsing said capillaceous surface in water after each application to said body to free it from the residue of said previous application before again bringing it into contact with said dry powder fora succeeding application.

Signed at 33 N. 42nd St, New York, this 21 day'of June, 1915.

ANGELICA SGHUYLER CHURCH. Witnesses:

LELIA M. TINSLEY, HAROLD E. TINSLEY.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

